The new Mission: Impossible is called “Rogue Nation.” The new Star Wars film is called “Rogue One.” All the best minds in Hollywood came up with the same word in their titles. Everyone’s going rogue! By the way, in the new documentary “The Wrecking Crew,” bass player Carole Kaye shows how she invented the lines that run through the “MI” theme music. The whole story of the “MI” theme music is pretty interesting. By the way, “Rogue Nation” looks like a James Bond movie. I miss the whole “MI” team concept. In this trailer, Tom Cruise hangs from things. Jeremy Renner isn’t mentioned, and is seen briefly. Simon Pegg is featured.
Nile Rodgers and Chic are Back with “I’ll Be There” and NYC Fundraiser
Nile Rodgers’ sound never gets old. You can hear it on Daft Punk’s “Get Lucky” and all the way back Chic in the late 70s and early 80s, Madonna, David Bowie, Duran Duran, Diana Ross and so many more. He’s just released a new Chic single called “I’ll Be There.” You can hear him LIVE April 23rd at his We Are Family Foundation gala he produces with Nancy Hunt in NYC at the Hammerstein Ballroom. Chaka Khan is a guest star. C’est chic! Le Freak!
Post by Nile Rodgers.
Dennis Hopper’s Final Project, “The Last Film Festival,” Raising Dough on Kickstarter
Listen up, everyone. My old pal Linda Yellen, who’s made so many great movies for cinema and TV, has taken to Kickstart for an unusual project. She wants to release Dennis Hopper’s last movie, “The Last Film Festival” with Dennis and Jackie Bisset. It’s terrific– I’ve seen it– and we need to help her get it out there. Dennis was a hero of so many people. Jackie Bisset is one of our best actresses ever. It’s well worth it!
Linda writes: “A number of years ago I was lucky enough to meet Dennis at the legendary Sundance Film Festival. We spent a lot of time laughing at the excitement, extravagance, and chaos of it all. Sundance is simply one of the best film festivals in the world, and I wondered what the worst would be like? Dennis turned to me and said “that’s a great idea kid, you write the script and I’ll do it.” And he did!
Dennis Hopper has long been a hero of mine. He changed the face of independent filmmaking for generations to come with his groundbreaking and wildly successful film, Easy Rider, and gave fearless performances whether playing rebels in Apocalypse Now, Rebel Without A Cause and Giant, or villains in True Romance, Blue Velvet and Speed. He was always convincing and unforgettable.”
B52s Kate Pierson: Everyone Should Be Streaming, Buying, Downloading Her Now
Kate Pierson is the unsung hero of The B52s. Now, 35 years after “Rock Lobster” warmed our hearts, Kate has her first solo recording. “Guitars and Microphones” can be procured from all the usual places like Amazon, iTunes, record stores, Spotify, etc. There are tons of great tracks. My favorite is “Time Wave Zero.” Clear Channel, aka I Heart Radio, play this damn thing. The flame haired Kate and I shared a bus ride the other night and caught up on all things B52. She’s a doll. Come on, we owe her for giving three decades of happy music including singing with Michael Stipe on REM’s smash hit “Shiny Happy People.”
“Downton Abbey” Furor: Is Season Six Its Last, or Will PBS Go for One More?
Is “Downton Abbey” over? TVLine is saying season six, currently filming, is the end. But no one’s on the record. The operating theory is that the actors’ second contract for three years ends with this season. (The Brits sign three year contracts.) But that doesn’t mean anything. One or two year deals are easy to cut, and after the sbrupt exits of Dan Stevens and Jessica Findlay Brown, the other “Downton” actors see that life after the Abbey isn’t always rainbows and cookies.
So what is going on? Last week I was talking to PBS sources and they insisted they still didn’t know what show creator Julian Fellowes had in mind. Maggie Smith’s comments about the Dowager Countess being 110 were taken out of context. They’re still being repeated– on TVLine– but in fact they were retracted on March 3rd. A press release went out reassuring fans that Dame Maggie would stick with the show until the end.
For some, the show is ready to end. All that remains is for Mary to find happiness with Matthew Goode’s new character, Henry Talbott, and for Edith to find someone to be a father for her baby. Brandon (Allen Leech) is gone, and so is Rose (Lily James). The only new characters for season six are Talbott and the estate agent. Mr. Carson and Mrs. Hughes are set to marry, the Bateses will probably get pregnant. I am told that Penelope Wilton’s Mrs. Crawley will marry Dr. Clarkson in Season Six. So that could be it.
PBS will be hard pressed to lose “Downton Abbey.” So will ITV in London. But the British ratings for “Downton” are down. And PBS here never released overnights on the season five finale. We may get the ratings for the whole season this week, along with the announcement that the end is here. But please, no one wants to see the episode of Violet (Smith) kicking the bucket. Let’s hope we’re spared that.
Box Office: Sean Penn “Gunman” Has 2 Oscar Winners and Just $628 Per Theater
“The Gunman” might as well take out a gun and shoot itself. Starring Oscar winners Sean Penn and Javier Bardem, the “Taken” wannabe made just $1.7 million on Friday night. That came out to $628 per theater. That means possibly 70 people sat in the dark, at least for a while, in every place “The Gunman” was showing. But with around a 14% among critics and bloggers, what did anyone expect? My guess is that with Haiti as a priority, Sean is not paying attention to what movies he’s in or how they’re developed.
“Accidental Love” also opened last night with a 6% rating. This is the movie that David O. Russell left and took his name off of. Jake Gyllenhaal, Catherine Keener, and James Marsden are not to blame, and neither is Kristin Gore, daughter of Al and Tipper, who wrote the book upon which this was based. “Accidental Love” is on VOD, so why Millennium–now known as Alchemy– bothered to put it in theaters is surprising. We may never know the box office number and none was reported so far.
Apparently no one believed in “Do You Believe?” a Christian movie with Mira Sorvino and Sean Astin. It made $1.25 million last night.
“Focus,” the Will Smith bomb, will leave theaters this week with $50 million. That’s the lowest gross Will has had since 2000 and “The Legend of Bagger Vance,” including “After Earth.”
TV Legend Norman Lear, 92, on Brian Williams: “We all exaggerate occasionally”
Norman Lear truly believes the show must go on. Even though he had the feeling of approaching pneumonia, the 92 year old legend showed up last week for The Writers Bloc ‘Arts & Ideas: Conversations at the Wallis’ in Beverly Hills. He chatted with his good friend, Phil Rosenthal, writer/producer/director ‘Everybody Loves Raymond.” Lear was hawking his new book, ‘Even This I Get To Experience.” The Writers Bloc always attracts the crème de la crème of authors of current books and the Wallis Annenberg Center For The Performing Arts, aka The Wallis, is swiftly becoming a must go destination for the most talked about cultural events.
The cleverness started at the get go. Lear asked Rosenthal, “Please tell the audience why my voice sounds so weird.” Phil responded, “I’m going to guess cause you’re really old?” Norman then playfully walked off. To which Phil commented, “The guy has pre-pneumonia but still lives to do shtick.”
The talk was current; Brian Williams’s recent troubles came up. Lear commented, “Of course his hand had to be slapped, but the press made too much of a fuss about it. We all exaggerate occasionally.” He then brought up his disgust for the 47 senators who recently wrote that letter to Iran, and added, “I would vote for Jon Stewart for President.” Rosenthal noted that Archie Bunker’s bigotry “is still alive and well on that bus in Oklahoma.”
The duo switched gears and Lear recalled his difficult childhood days. His father was in prison for a time, they were dirt poor and he lived with his grandparents. A standout experience from his early career was meeting Charlie Chaplin, who performed a mime just for him.
Cut to ‘All In The Family,’ and the challenges, both positive and negative, that entailed. Lear told how the pilot was almost not picked up, because although they had Carroll O’Connor and Jean Stapleton, the daughter and her husband did not work so well. So Lear cast two other actors, including his longtime friend Carl Reiner’s yet-untested son Rob. He explained, “I take credit for casting those four actors, but the way they interacted was in the lap of God.”
Lear’s other famed shows were discussed, as well as his other noted work and his honored political life. Lear summed it up by saying, “I take life seriously, so much of it is glorious. I see life through the end of telescope with humor.” I caught up with Rosenthal after who told me that, “I think life in America can be measured BN and AN, before Norman and after Norman. “ Phil then quipped, “I wouldn’t be here without him, so I really should thank him for my house.”
Snow, Apathy May Cut into “Insurgent: Divergent” Box Office This Weekend
It’s snowing in the Northeast and it’s not pretty. That’s not good news for “Insurgent: Divergent,” part two of the YA series starring Shailene Woodley as Katniss, er, Tris, the kickass leader of a dystopian world. Anyway.
Last night, Thursday night previews of “Regurgent” were down 16% from the first installment’s Thursday previews. And the weather was good. So either tweens are going to need a lot of convincing, or “Insurgent” is going to be in trouble come Sunday.
The show is also a big problem. This audience does not drive to theaters. Their parents have to take them. And parents are not going out in this weather.
“Insurgent” also has bad reviews. It’s at 33% on Rotten Tomatoes. The negative comments won’t deter the true believers, but the middlings and the parents will vote to wait until the sun is shining.
Stay tuned…
Amanda Bynes is Back on Twitter Using a Pseudonym, Having More Scary Problems
Poor Amanda Bynes. I don’t understand why her parents cannot get hold of this situation. The former child actress is back on Twitter under a pseudonum and having a very bad time emotionally.
The name Bynes is using is Ashley Banks, and her handle is @PersianLa27. I had a brief Tweet-versation with her a couple of days ago that ended with Ashley telling me: “Don’t speak to me directly.” Bynes has started a GoFundMe page under that name, using a picture of Britney Spears. She writes: “With recent surgery and constant pressure to be seen in a new outfit everyday I am starting my own personal account so that I’m able to express my spending habits freely. I have money but because of my looks they put me on a budget. I’m also literally sporting an old Galaxy phone and would like a new iPhone ASAP.” She’s raised $164 of $500.
This morning Amanda wrote as Ashley: “I honestly need some money in my account so that I can fly to NYC as soon as possible because I am again being refused access to my money.” Her parents at least have locked down her accounts under a conservatorship so that Bynes can’t travel or hurt herself. She has a long history of mental illness, documented everywhere on the internet.
Bynes continues to have issues about her appearance. She regularly Tweets that she’s unattractive or very attractive. Of course, it’s not rational. She’s a beautiful girl. But her GoFundMe page is titled “Gorgeous Funds.”
She also issues with her parents. She’s threatened to kill them, and accused her father of molestation. But she did Tweet a picture of herself with friends who looked like surrogate parents. If anyone knows who they are, let us know.
— ashley banks (@PersianLa27) March 17, 2015
What a nightmare for her parents and relatives and friends. Hopefully they can help her. Soon.
Broadway: “Heidi” Opens to Raves As Stars Take Public Bus to After Party
Wendy Wasserstein’s deep and funny 1989 play “The Heidi Chronicles” opened last night on Broadway to cheers and raves, with “Mad Men” star Elisabeth Moss brilliantly picking up the role originated by the great Joan Allen. And what a crowd: Renee Fleming sat in front of me, and Jane Seymour was behind me. “Mad Men” creator Matt Weiner and star John Slattery were there, as were the glowing Patricia Clarkson, Alessandro Nivola, and a score of other notables.
So: it’s freezing out, and there’s no transportation to the Red Eye Grill some ten or more blocks away. All the shows have let out at the same time including the “Heidi” premiere, so 8th Avenue was filled with patrons of other shows scrambling for cabs. What to do?
All of a sudden this large white vehicle with many huge windows arrived in the middle of the block. The door opened and other people lined up to get on. “Look, it’s a bus,” someone said. “Should we take it? Do you have that thing?”
“Do you mean a MetroCard?” someone replied. The group stared at this white alien machine as if it had landed from a Marvel comic movie.
One or two MetroCards were fished out from wallet and handbags, and, en masse, the “Heidi” party boarded. Regular customers of the M106 shifted over as our group embarked, including B52s star Kate Pierson, famed comedian Robert Klein, Tony winning costumer designer (and head of the American Theater Wing) William Ivey Long, and another dozen denizens of the live stage.
“How much is this bus ride?” someone who did not have a MetroCard asked. I answered, “two-fifty,” as I’d generously swiped for Kate Pierson, as a thank you for three decades of “Rock Lobster’ and “Private Idaho.”
“Two fifty!” Many were shocked. The last time they’d been on public transportation it had cost around twenty five cents.
“Stay here, the party’s better,” said a woman in a seat by the door as we landed on West 56th and Eighth, the “Patsy’s” sign glowing neon in the dark.
But the party at the Red Eye Grill was pretty good after our adventure. It was crowded, but the food was fine, and producer Jeffrey Richards, who is also bringing “Wolf Hall” parts 1 and 2, to Broadway, next week, was pleased with the reviews and the reactions. “How about Elisabeth Moss?” he said. “She’s the real thing.”
He’s right. She couldn’t be better as Heidi Holland, the art historian who comes of age in 1968 as the women’s movement starts up. She wants it all — career, family, love, friends– but only can have some of it. By the mid 80s, when the play ends, she’s grown and so have we. Jason Biggs and Bryce Pinkham are excellent as Heidi’s not-boyfriends. The whole cast resonates, especially newcomer Ali Ahn as Heidi’s career driven super-woman pal Susan. Susan says toward the end of the play when she and Heidi reunite, “I do miss the Heidi chronicles,” and I’ll tell you what: I did too.